In a recent report that examined crime and society, it was noted that people from (Black, Asian, Minorities, Ethnics) BAME communities were over-represented at almost all stages of the criminal-justice process. The report also noted that these members of society were disproportionately targeted by the police and were also more likely to be incarcerated and also more likely to be imprisoned for longer than white British peer.
In addition, reported that members of BAME communities were more likely to be stopped-and-searched where the disparity differs in the degree that in 2011, police were 28 times more likely to use ‘Section 60’ stop-and-search powers (where officers do not require suspicion of the person having been involved in a crime) against black people than white people.
The report noted that there were 1.04 million arrests made by police with 25 per cent of all arrests from 2013-2014 of black or Asian people.
In 2014, black people were nearly three times more likely to be arrested than white people. Additionally, the report went on to report that Certain BAME groups are more likely than white groups to be sentenced to immediate custody for offences, which can be tried in the Crown Court (indictable offences).
A prior study in 2011, analysed over one million court records found that black offenders were 44 per cent more likely than white offenders to be given a prison sentence for driving offences, 38 per cent more likely for public order offences or possession of a weapon and 27 per cent more likely for possession of drugs.
A further serious issue of concern has identified that BAME groups are notably over-represented in the prison system, with approximately 25 per cent of the prison population is from a BAME community. What was even more shocking was the report Equality and Human Rights Commission noted that there is greater disproportionally in the number of black people in prisons in the UK than in the United States.
The result of all this has impacted the collective society where people from BAME communities are under-represented in senior positions of employment. This level of systemic injustice leaves a grave cultural imbalance without our society. Nelson Mandela stated that “As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.”
This spirit of injustice contradicts God’s very nature and consequently, gives space to evil. When we refer to the scripture we find in the letter f James a rather apt response “Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil” James 2:4.
As a church, we need to respond to this injustice through prayer, fasting and intercession as the absence of justice gives way to the evil of injustice.
